Oh the time had finally come!! The obvious things were on the top of my mind: did I pack the right things, do I have all the paperwork I need, did I make the right decision to run the full, will my body handle it and will I be able to find Coca-Cola while I am there??? Yes, I have priorities!!!
Our group of 5 was slowly coming together, we had an event that was fun and successful plus I was getting to know them and enjoying that! The event was a fundraiser and we got a local bar to host and a bunch of businesses to give some goodies to auction off. It was a fun night and I took the opportunity to talk with some of my new “teammates”. This was the turning point in the friendships for me as I hadn’t really had a chance to get to know anyone.
So a few days before I was to leave, I as usual had trouble packing, too much too little it is always an issue with me. For whatever reason whenever I pack to leave I feel the need to pack for warm weather, this was no different than any other time-this would be a great downfall for me…
The day came to go to the airport, I kissed my little, later taters goodbye and BOB and I was on my way! Nothing eventful at the airport but man that 10 hour flight was a killer!!! I had lots of movies on my iPad so I slept and watched shows the bulk of the time, looking back I wish I would have brought some snacks mainly because you just never know when you will be awake, you will get something to eat, when the flight attendant may come by, so anyway BRING SNACKS!
As we arrived in China we were able to navigate fairly well and made our way to our next flight. We arrived in the middle of the night and we had some friends greet us at the airport. The language barrier did leave us in the dark but we were in good hands. We arrived at the hotel and found out that this was not the hotel we were told we were staying at, not a big deal but the rooms had to be readjusted which was also fine except we had been traveling so long I just wanted to shower and lay down. Two of my teammates got a bit slap happy and made for a very goofy first evening-LOL
Our first actual day was Friday, we ate breakfast in the hotel and then went to pick up our race packets. This was NOT an expo, not even a small US expo. We picked up our packets in a hotel room. The group was really nice and we got some really cool gear: a bag, tank, tee, shorts, and race number. Next we were met in the lobby by some local College students. They were our “handlers” for the day. This ended up being really fun but I will admit not what I was expecting or what we had been told. They really didn’t know what to do with us, they didn’t have an agenda, any money, transportation or anything but the fact they had volunteered for this job and were super enthusiastic.
We walked around the city and looked for an ATM machine because none of us had any money with us yet. After several stops we end up in an ATM station in their subway system. I COULD NOT figure it out, obviously it was all in Chinese and this was a new ATM card for me that I wasn’t sure it was even going to work. Before I had left I couldn’t get any money out so thank goodness my sister quickly put some money in the account or I would have had a MAJOR problem. Back to the ATM, we all ended up cramming in this tiny machine trying to get me some cash, amazing photo op!!!! We ended the day a bit early as we were all tired and said goodbye to our new friends.
Saturday we spent the day with our running counterpart team and they took us to an old town where we got some great photo ops, history and some beautiful landscape. We had lunch at a small little restaurant with authentic food–it was fantastic.
We were able to tour a gorgeous temple in the old city, this picture doesn’t do it justice!
We then headed to another college group that made homemade noodles and wanted to practice their English with us. It was a fun evening but we had a race the next day and we were still adjusting to the time so we were all EXHAUSTED. I think by our looks you can tell we are struggling to keep our eyes open! It was like 8PM but felt like 4AM.
Stay tuned for the RACE DAY!!!!
The Later Tater Momma 